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Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system [#permalink]
13 Sep 2003, 20:02

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A

B

C

D

E

Difficulty:

95% (hard)

Question Stats:

35%(02:16) correct
65%(01:12) wrong based on 829 sessions

Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its ever-present congestion tolerable.

(A) Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its(B) Japan, a culture of accommodation and constraint, is a system of forms, etiquette, and images, which makes its(C) A cuture of accommodation and constraint, Japan is a system of forms, etiquette, and images making its(D) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images that makes the(E) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, of a system of forms, etiquette, and images which makes the

Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint,a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making itsever-present congestion tolerable.

(A) Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint,a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its(B) Japan, a culture of accommodation and constraint, isa system of forms, etiquette, and images, which makes its(C) A cuture of accommodation and constraint, Japan is a systemof forms, etiquette, and images making its(D) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a systemof forms, etiquette, and images that makes the(E) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, of a systemof forms, etiquette, and images which makes the

Please don't be stingy with your explanations!!!

Answer ...D

E is convoluted...
Japan's is a culture of X , of a system of Y which makes...
Also "which" has no clear logical referent

Could you explain a little further? Why is E wrong? Is "that" better than "which" ?

Thanks and sorry again

Martin

In D, The clause starting with "that" is a RESTRICTIVE clause...how do i know that?

Remove the "that" clause..we are left with a run on sentence.

With Restrictive Clauses, ALWAYS use THAT.

NOTE:
Its true that both "that" and "which" can be used to start restrictive clauses...but "that" is always preferred.

So we zoom in to D..[/b]

Another reason for rejecting E...

Japan's is a culture of X, of a system of forms...this structure is not quite correct...

Culture and System are two different things.. isnt it?

Culture of a System of.......isnt that messed up?

correct version can be:

Japan's is a culture of X and a system of Y that makes its Z

ok, now to answer in general about that and which

That starts a restrictive clause providing essential information.. no commas ever for "that"

The book, which is on the table, is mine...wrong

If we remove the red part, you will ask...which book....isnt it?

We need more information...

The book that is on the table is mine...correct

The sentence in blue is thus integral to the sentence.

Here we have complete information about the book...so this is fine
So if you get rid of a "which" clause ...it "should not" change the meaning of the sentence..if it does, then your sentence construction is wrong.....the Which clause is usually set of from the sentence by commas...

Be advised..there may be cases where ETS will introduce the same error in ALL the choices...in that case, dont lose sight of the fact that you got to pick the BEST answer....for example , you may have five choices...all of these have no comma before which...in that case..you can be sure that the rule " no comma before which" is not tested here.

Is that good enough?

Thanks
Praetorian

Last edited by Praetorian on 15 Sep 2003, 06:31, edited 2 times in total.

Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its ever-present congestion tolerable.

(A) Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its (B) Japan, a culture of accommodation and constraint, is a system of forms, etiquette, and images, which makes its

B is the least harmful but also has a flaw.

what refers to "which"? seems which means "culture". normally "which" refers to the noun that precedes "which".

Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images that makes the ever-present congestion tolerable.

We may think "Japan's is" as "Culture of Japan" and can rewrite the sentence as
"Culture of Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images that makes the ever-present congestion tolerable."

However, a culture can not be a system.
Moreover "ever-present congestion" is not clear. It seems as if congestion is present everywhere. Actually it should say congestion is present everywhere in Japan.

So D is out.

In B

Japan, a culture of accommodation and constraint, is a system of forms, etiquette, and images, which makes its ever-present congestion tolerable.

Here Japan can be a system.
I am not sure if it's appropriate to say "Japan is a culture".
"its" clearly says about Japan's Congestion.

A: wrong use of tense in ",system ... making"
B: 'that' would be better since the following clause is an essential element (Why is congestion is tolerable in Japan)
C: same as A
D: seems OK
E: "which" missing comma

I am NOT crystral clear and thus an OA and accompanying explanation would help